[thadon]

hello forum, I'm tha new kid on the block and was looking for some good advice from you OG'S here. I have a sbc 350 out of a 72 chevy and want to rebuild it for a daily driver but wit some power when i ask for it, (u know wat i mean) are there any setups i could look for that could help me here . thanks tha thadon .

[hcompton]

Lots of good build in hotord mag are on the web and many have been used with great success.

I would start off by finding out what you have and your budget. Hp numbers are not easy to build for as most people have budgets that quickly kill all hopes in hp numbers.

Find out what block casting you have and look it up. Do the same for the heads. You my find you have ok heads for mild build up or terrible heads that will need to be replaced. Either way make a list and decide how much this can cost before its painful. Then go a few steps back to cover all the extras.

383's are pretty cheap these days. In a lot of cases the cost is almost the same. Depending on what you have to work with. Also very comfy on the street as they seem to move big car with less effort.

[1Gary]

First and for most you need to be detailed in your goals.

Just for entertainment purposes here is somewhat a dated list of 108 SBC combos:

Ryan's Small Block Chevy Stroker Engine Combo Page

The reason or well one of them,for forums like this is the comic books like Hot Rod,Popular Hot Rodding are not anything like the real street experiences that you get from members here.NEVER LOOSE SIGHT those magazines are in business to sell the parts of the advertiser's.It is a fact of life and you do need to be able to read between the lines of those articles.

That said,give us more to work with to your goals.

[against all odds]

i really think the right gearing, like 3.08 proper carb and ignition tuning will give plenty of power for the street.

[454C10]

read this. A 350 goodwrench engine build up 8 stages. stage 1 or 2 would be good for you.


GM Goodwrench 350 test part 1

A mild cam (205 to 212 at 0.050"), 8.5:1 cr, 4 bbl carb, dual exhaust, and maybe a little DIY head bowl smoothing and you can make 300hp.

[vinniekq2]

A cam like 454 said with a valve lift of .440 to .455 ish.You will need a very good 4 bbl carb.If you have the quadrajet from the 76,use that if its in good shape. A performer intake manifold,make sure your carb fits. I would try for 9.2 compression ration but not higher.headers and full length dual exhaust,at least 2 1/2 inch diameter

[1Gary]

Sure wish guys we could base the advise more off personal experiences for this O/P and not so much off magazine articles..............

[1Gary]

I think a good starting point would to ascertain the current condition of his 40 yr old 350 and then get the casting numbers off the heads it currently has on it.Is it still in a car for a compression test,what is the oil pressure,is there any problems that make him want to rebuild it??. Those things need our attention long before we start doing cam swaps...........don't ya think??.

[hcompton]

Originally Posted by 1Gary

Sure wish guys we could base the advise more off personal experiences for this O/P and not so much off magazine articles..............

Generic question gets a generic answer. I cant base it off personal experience because i am not sure what he needs and what he currently has.

Mags a good most of us learned all our info from mags before the internet. Remeber life before the internet.

In all truth they are good source for info and pictures with details and gotchas from smart guys doing the right research.

[1Gary]

Originally Posted by hcompton

Generic question gets a generic answer. I cant base it off personal experience because i am not sure what he needs and what he currently has.

Mags a good most of us learned all our info from mags before the internet. Remeber life before the internet.

In all truth they are good source for info and pictures with details and gotchas from smart guys doing the right research.

We aren't going down the road with the topic of how bias those articles are.

Yepper all those smart guys are right here. Amazing in the short time I have been on this site how I picked that up. I really like it here because you can get into detailed engine discussions with very informed members.

I can tell you the dumbest dyno rm operator is one who doesn't give the results as expected.That comes from me working in a Chevy engine plant engine dyno rm for a number of yrs and figuring a way for engines to run in ideal conditions that would never apply to real life.

My advise to you and to this O/P is do not take what amounts to comic book articles as the gospel truth. Because simply they are not. It took me a long,long time being in the trades/business of high performance engines to accept that.If you want to follow something that is a monthly more realistic behind the seen's trade publication that is slanted towards the business of high performance industry here is a ref link:

Engine Builder - Serving Professional Engine Builders and Rebuilders with information on rebuilt engines, engine parts and performance engines

Lots of tips and tricks in that and certainly a very good learning tool from the industry leaders.

But lets get back to the post of him looking at what he has to work with first.We can then go on from there..................

[hcompton]

Originally Posted by 1Gary

We aren't going down the road with the topic of how bias those articles are.

Yepper all those smart guys are right here. Amazing in the short time I have been on this site how I picked that up. I really like it here because you can get into detailed engine discussions with very informed members.

I can tell you the dumbest dyno rm operator is one who doesn't give the results as expected.That comes from me working in a Chevy engine plant engine dyno rm for a number of yrs and figuring a way for engines to run in ideal conditions that would never apply to real life.

My advise to you and to this O/P is do not take what amounts to comic book articles as the gospel truth. Because simply they are not. It took me a long,long time being in the trades/business of high performance engines to accept that.If you want to follow something that is a monthly more realistic behind the seen's trade publication that is slanted towards the business of high performance industry here is a ref link:

Engine Builder - Serving Professional Engine Builders and Rebuilders with information on rebuilt engines, engine parts and performance engines

Lots of tips and tricks in that and certainly a very good learning tool from the industry leaders.

But lets get back to the post of him looking at what he has to work with first.We can then go on from there..................

Yep its a good mag been reading it for years. But it is usally nothing about what i am currently working on. Just engine stuff. I looked over the hot rod build ups and many that people follow are really good. Its not like they are smart guys they just do what everyone has been doing for years and act like they thought of it. Nothing to sell as they usally mention the cheapest item. not sure of all mags but for hotrod they got some good cheap builds as well.

Not sure what you learned in a mag that does not work in real life. Most of the time they will tell you its not for everyday use. or it is.

The best source for making power with four storke engines is hands down. Grahams books. But they are not going to help hear as he has a chevy and realistic goals. Just needs some help picking the right parts. For that I got to know what he is starting with.

Four-Stroke Performance Tuning: Fourth edition: A Graham Bell: 9780857331250: Amazon.com: Books

Four-Stroke Performance Tuning: Fourth edition: A Graham Bell: 9780857331250: Amazon.com: Books

[1Gary]

I didn't tell you a story about a article in Hot Rod Magazine that Don Hardy didn't want published on a swap they never finished where parts for the swap where just drew in by Hot Rod for the pictures.That was yrs ago when I was younger and more gullible reading that nonsense which cost me tens of thousands to finish that swap.Or how about a friend of mine who lost his butt in Ohio doing a job for a article in his dyno rm because he had to wade through 10 sets of a manufactures junk heads before he could find two he could actually use.Nope that wasn't included in the article.Or how about we used to set at dinner with some of the big manufactures after the Indy Drag racers auction and how they laughed at the latest claims in the more recent articles.Yeah-real reliable sources for information.NOT!!!.

Look-those comic book articles are vehicles to sell parts and if you think they give a damm about you or any of it's readership you badly mistaken.Oh yeah I just remembered one other one.Remember the articles that used to be around "sub and tub in a weekend". Ever done that??. I know I haven't.

Rant over.I'm saying sorry to the O/P.

[hcompton]

Originally Posted by 1Gary

I didn't tell you a story about a article in Hot Rod Magazine that Don Hardy didn't want published on a swap they never finished where parts for the swap where just drew in by Hot Rod for the pictures.That was yrs ago when I was younger and more gullible reading that nonsense which cost me tens of thousands to finish that swap.Or how about a friend of mine who lost his butt in Ohio doing a job for a article in his dyno rm because he had to wade through 10 sets of a manufactures junk heads before he could find two he could actually use.Nope that wasn't included in the article.Or how about we used to set at dinner with some of the big manufactures after the Indy Drag racers auction and how they laughed at the latest claims in the more recent articles.Yeah-real reliable sources for information.NOT!!!.

Look-those comic book articles are vehicles to sell parts and if you think they give a damm about you or any of it's readership you badly mistaken.Oh yeah I just remembered one other one.Remember the articles that used to be around "sub and tub in a weekend". Ever done that??. I know I haven't.

Rant over.I'm saying sorry to the O/P.

Lol good rant!

But i dont think he will need that much help to build a chevy for 70's impala. Basic rebuild with good quality parts and mild cam carb should do the trick. I do feel like hotord and others have covered the mild build really well. A number of times not like a 350 has changed much over the years. I will recommend a parts list for the op if i can figure out whats going to be needed. Its the internet i cant pop the hood and take a look at it. A little light reading is always a good start for a project like this.

[1Gary]

Originally Posted by 1Gary

First and for most you need to be detailed in your goals.

Just for entertainment purposes here is somewhat a dated list of 108 SBC combos:

Ryan's Small Block Chevy Stroker Engine Combo Page

The reason or well one of them,for forums like this is the comic books like Hot Rod,Popular Hot Rodding are not anything like the real street experiences that you get from members here.NEVER LOOSE SIGHT those magazines are in business to sell the parts of the advertiser's.It is a fact of life and you do need to be able to read between the lines of those articles.

That said,give us more to work with to your goals.

Well he has no less than 108 combo's to choose from in this link........